RusM
Amateur Viking
I'm going with the garden hose and extension cord route if you don't want to for the sparky. 
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Dock water and power
- Thread starter WaterH
- Start date
WaterH
Well-known member
Sound advice would be “don’t bother with 220 or yes, you’ll want 220”. Sound advice would be “go with at least 1” tube because of pressure drop”. Sound advice would be “use a certain kind of cable”. But saying “go hire someone” is no help at all. I can always do that if I choose.Ya instead of asking and going against sound advice I vote next time he just do it his own way then post and take the criticism.
Now you got me wondering about chickens and shit
ANGELO
Red Numb Skull
Boat lift or no lift is probably the determining factor on your power needs
arse_sidewards
Red Skull Member
- Joined
- May 19, 2020
- Member Number
- 71
- Messages
- 8,562
Tour some local marinas and copy whatever their setup is as far as wire types, breaker configurations, plugs and boxes, etc.
Chevy_man
Leftjizz
- Joined
- May 20, 2020
- Member Number
- 807
- Messages
- 543
It's not hard to make stuff work.
It's a lot harder to make sure it all meets code and can't kill the idiots that are actively trying to die from stupidity.
Also, I fully encourage anyone to fuck with their own house.
Saltwater dock where if he screws up death is likely? I'm an electrician, that wouldn't fuck with it myself because it's not something I ever do or am familiar with.
Pool or hot tub? No problem. Ground and bond to code and use GFCI.
Saltwater? Fuck that.
On top of that, he has beach front property and a boat that requires power and water. He can pay a few $ to have someone do it correctly...
I know we're all cheap asses here. But I'll still pay a plumber to do my sewer because I'm not familiar with turds.
Chevy_man
Leftjizz
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- May 20, 2020
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You're not exactly helping yourself either.
What's the requirements for water? Filling a tank? What size tank? How quickly does it need to fill? Are you ok with everything tasting like rubber hose?
What kind of power does your boat require? What voltage? What amperage? Does it have a generator and only needs a maintenance charge for batteries or are you trying to run a full suite of electronics and a freezer capable of flash freezing a giant grouper?
If you don't have a boat you're putting the cart before the horse. Buy a boat, get requirements from the manufacturer, and come back here.
Long runs are fun. 50A of 120v over 500ft takes stupidly large wire. May look into transformers, as stepping up to 480 and back town to 120 may actually save a good chunk of money on wire.
WTF?
degenerate at large
Yup, our boat lift runs 2x 220v motors.
@ 500ft i would cwrtainly be looking at some small distribution transformers.You're not exactly helping yourself either.
What's the requirements for water? Filling a tank? What size tank? How quickly does it need to fill? Are you ok with everything tasting like rubber hose?
What kind of power does your boat require? What voltage? What amperage? Does it have a generator and only needs a maintenance charge for batteries or are you trying to run a full suite of electronics and a freezer capable of flash freezing a giant grouper?
If you don't have a boat you're putting the cart before the horse. Buy a boat, get requirements from the manufacturer, and come back here.
Long runs are fun. 50A of 120v over 500ft takes stupidly large wire. May look into transformers, as stepping up to 480 and back town to 120 may actually save a good chunk of money on wire.
Probably cost a grand at each end for a pair of 5kva units.
Would get him what, 20A@220?
redneckengineered
Angry
You still haven't said exactly what you are trying to accomplish other than "i NeEd pOwEr aT mAi dOck" so it's a bit hard to give sound advice with such a broad request.
Again, 30amp will cover most boats if you really want your friend to be able to hook into shore power when they tie up which is not really even a necessity so you could leave that off all together. Will you have a lift? What capacity?
CarterKraft
Red Skull Member
WaterH
Well-known member
No boat lift, but I will look in to the amperage required. I suppose I could plan for future.
You're not exactly helping yourself either.
What's the requirements for water? Filling a tank? What size tank? How quickly does it need to fill? Are you ok with everything tasting like rubber hose?
What kind of power does your boat require? What voltage? What amperage? Does it have a generator and only needs a maintenance charge for batteries or are you trying to run a full suite of electronics and a freezer capable of flash freezing a giant grouper?
If you don't have a boat you're putting the cart before the horse. Buy a boat, get requirements from the manufacturer, and come back here.
Long runs are fun. 50A of 120v over 500ft takes stupidly large wire. May look into transformers, as stepping up to 480 and back town to 120 may actually save a good chunk of money on wire.
I don’t have a boat yet, but the marinas around here have 30 amp slips. Occasionally you see a 50 amp for large boats. (Greater than 50’) Again, I can plan for the future, but I’m not going to get a 80 foot boat on my dock because it’s to shallow. I’m sure 30 amps will be fine, but I may go 50 for future. I expect “stupid large wire”.
I had not heard of the transformer trick. (Except at the power company)
Again, not heard of doing this. So this is some sound advice. I will look into it.
I want to hook a 50’ or smaller yacht up and run the AC. Maybe I want a trickle charger on a small boat. I want to have a hose to supply fresh water to the yacht and wash a boat. (Maybe clean some fish)
No plans for a lift, but maybe in the future I will want one. It would be for a 22-25 foot fast boat. I don’t think they require that much power. The ones I’ve seen have pretty small motors and lot of torque multiplication.
WaterH
Well-known member
This is what I was thinking. I haven’t shopped them yet. I also hadn’t seen the 250V receptacle before. Funny, no regular 110 outlet. What if I want to run a grinder or something.
Thanks
WTF?
degenerate at large
the typical saltwater ~10k lift will have 2x 1hp motors. each will rated for 16a at 120v; so 30a would be inadequate
CarterKraft
Red Skull Member
Voltatge drop calc
#3awg.
NEC 555 has everything you should need if you want something that passes code. I'd contact the power company and see what their requirements for adding power to a dock is. Probably just going to be a post with something like a NEMA 4R panelboard/meter combo. Get that inspected and then add power afterwards.
He doesn't have a slip. It's just a long dock.
#3awg.
NEC 555 has everything you should need if you want something that passes code. I'd contact the power company and see what their requirements for adding power to a dock is. Probably just going to be a post with something like a NEMA 4R panelboard/meter combo. Get that inspected and then add power afterwards.
He doesn't have a slip. It's just a long dock.
FIFY.
WaterH
Well-known member
FIFY.
Margarita here we come!
AKnate
Icehole
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2022
- Member Number
- 4908
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- 1,270
I get 2 AWG for copper, 1/0 aluminum on that calculator.Voltatge drop calc
#3awg.
NEC 555 has everything you should need if you want something that passes code. I'd contact the power company and see what their requirements for adding power to a dock is. Probably just going to be a post with something like a NEMA 4R panelboard/meter combo. Get that inspected and then add power afterwards.
He doesn't have a slip. It's just a long dock.
FIFY.
Though I'd verify.
For grins I plugged in 100 amp service, 100ft run and it claims 1/0 aluminum, but in reality 2 AWG is normally used... good to 130 amps in some cases.
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redneckengineered
Angry
Best advice you'll get in this thread. Don't do anything AKnate says.
WaterH
Well-known member
Wow, an extra $500 to get a 20 amp receptacle. I think I can wire my own for that. I suppose I can make the whole thing for $300. It is pretty looking.Just keep looking
WTF?
degenerate at large
if you plant 4 posts at the end of that long dock and you have a lift slip. (point being if you're gonna run 500' of wire- spend an extra few cents/foot to upsize it to future-proof.)
Keeping the boat on a lift is pretty dang awesome- bottom growth/ bottom paint non issue, waking up to a hard rainstorm/ howling winds at 3am and laying there wondering if your bilge pumps / float switches are still working/ batteries are still juiced or if all the knots are holding/ ropes are chafing all is a not a problem.
And instead of dealing with idiots who cant back a trailer as the boat ramp on a beautiful and busy Saturday morning, you walk out and hit a switch to splash your boat in a few minutes
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WaterH
Well-known member
Is this yours? That has two 220 motors?you plant 4 posts at the end of that long dock and you have a lift. (point being if youre gonna run 500' of wire- spend an extra few cents/foot to upsize it to futureproof.
WTF?
degenerate at large
not mine but one just like it. 1 motor on each beam.
you can wire the 1 hp motors to run on 110 but the motor plate says its 16a a piece / so that would be 32a total
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ANGELO
Red Numb Skull
Or a fancy beam less one will have 4 motors.
Also now that your a hydraulic expert, there's a company that makes hydraulic lifts. So the pump could be on land, then run some hydraulic hoses along side your power and water
Also now that your a hydraulic expert, there's a company that makes hydraulic lifts. So the pump could be on land, then run some hydraulic hoses along side your power and water
Chevy_man
Leftjizz
- Joined
- May 20, 2020
- Member Number
- 807
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- 543
You're looking at yachts and going to bitch about cheap parts like that?
I don't think you'll have a boat for long.
grapehead
Junior Woodchuck
Per the other thread, dock workers are on strike so it may be hard to get anything done.
CarterKraft
Red Skull Member
I figured if you can do a good enough job and had the knowledge already you wouldn't be asking these questions...
I did look at some other pedestals and they had "ala Cart" devices screwed to a plastic pedestal.
Really shitty build quality and questionable weather resistance.
I know I could do a kick ass pedestal but I am not sure if it would be safe/smart or legal...
So if it were me.
I would call the electrician. Find out the best way to handle it. Then i would see if i could shave their labor down by doing the grunt work. No reason to pay them to trench wire from the house to the dock and run conduit down it. Leave it all stubbed out where they tell you to put it, then pay them to come and land your pedestal\wire transformers\hook it to the house.
You save money doing the idiot work, but still get an electrician hooking it up safely and doing all the maths.
The cost of wire vs the cost of transformers is just going to come down to how much power you want.
I would call the electrician. Find out the best way to handle it. Then i would see if i could shave their labor down by doing the grunt work. No reason to pay them to trench wire from the house to the dock and run conduit down it. Leave it all stubbed out where they tell you to put it, then pay them to come and land your pedestal\wire transformers\hook it to the house.
You save money doing the idiot work, but still get an electrician hooking it up safely and doing all the maths.
The cost of wire vs the cost of transformers is just going to come down to how much power you want.